“Airborne” by DiAnn Mills … and a GIVEAWAY!

Welcome to Friday Reads!

 

 

 

DiAnn's publisher has agreed to giveaway a print copy of Airborne (US ONLY)! You can enter to win by using the Rafflecopter link at the end of my blog post. (Giveaway ends October 2, 2020.) Share on X If you are the randomly chosen winner, I’ll contact you.

 

About the book…

Heather Lawrence’s long-awaited vacation to Salzburg wasn’t supposed to go like this. Mere hours into the transatlantic flight, the Houston FBI agent is awakened when passengers begin exhibiting horrific symptoms of an unknown infection. As the virus quickly spreads and dozens of passengers fall ill, Heather fears she’s witnessing an epidemic similar to ones her estranged husband studies for a living–but this airborne contagion may have been deliberately released.

While Heather remains quarantined with other survivors, she works with her FBI colleagues to identify the person behind this attack. The prime suspect? Dr. Chad Lawrence, an expert in his field . . . and Heather’s husband. The Lawrences’ marriage has been on the rocks since Chad announced his career took precedence over his wife and future family and moved out.

As more victims fall prey days after the initial outbreak, time’s running out to hunt down the killer, one who may be closer to the victims than anyone ever expected.

 

10 Tips for Crafting Lifelike Characters

by DiAnn Mills

Readers long to abandon the world around them and lose themselves in an exciting story. From line one, they want, and sometimes demand, a relationship with lifelike characters to journey through an adventure.

Our readers have standards, and not every writer exceeds those expectations. The challenge is to create realistic characters who become friends, loved ones, and admirable antagonists with sympathetic backstories. Not an easy task!

The following are ten tips to help writers create unforgettable characters:

1. Breathe life into your character by spending time engaging them internally and externally as though he or she were a new friend.
2. View your character as a real person with strengths and weaknesses, wants and needs, likes and dislikes, triumphs and failures.
3. Explore what motivates the character into action.
4. Develop specific internal and external goals.
5. Ask the character what he or she remembers about their backstory that is connected to chapter 1, line one of the story.
6. Determine if what the character believes about him- or herself involves misconceptions, lies, or betrayal.
7. Discover the character’s love language.
8. Evaluate the character’s career. Is it a good fit?
9. Reveal the character’s fears.
10. Hold conversations with the character about everything.

Writers who respect their readers will work hard to create characters who live forever in a land close to their hearts.

 

My review…

I read this during the Covid-19 pandemic, which made thing even more interesting. Surprisingly, it was easier than I thought to focus on the book and take my mind off all the real-life drama going on in the world. The fact that I knew the book had been crafted and written before the current pandemic made it easier, especially as the blurb really caught my eye.

As I’ve found with other books by Mills, this one contains well-developed characters and tight plotting that keeps the reader engaged.

The story unfolds via the points-of-view of both Heather and her husband Chad, who is under suspicion and desperate to clear his name. I had a hard time liking Chad, who comes across as selfish. But, his growth throughout did change my opinion as the story unfolded. Heather is brave and easy to root for. There is a third POV off and on in the story–the voice of the person who actually spread the virus (The Shield). The book did keep me guessing.

The fast pace had me turning the pages to see what happened next. The author obviously did her research, as details on the virus, CDC, and FBI are on point. I appreciated the fact that there wasn’t as much of a romance angle as I’d anticipated. I really enjoyed the details on the virus, but this was a character-driven novel. I would’ve liked a bit more on the science angle, but it was an enjoyable thriller overall.

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy, but I wasn’t required to leave a positive review.

 

About DiAnn…

DiAnn Mills is a bestselling author who believes her readers should expect an adventure. She creates action-packed, suspense-filled novels to thrill readers. Her titles have appeared on the CBA and ECPA bestseller lists; won two Christy Awards; and been finalists for the RITA, Daphne du Maurier, Inspirational Reader’s Choice, and Carol Award contests. Firewall, the first book in her Houston: FBI series, was listed by Library Journal as one of the best Christian fiction books of 2014. Connect with DiAnn at www.diannmills.com.

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a Rafflecopter giveaway

Rules for giveaway can be found here.